Hacking through suburbia

[Sister7]

I thought I found the perfect property to buy. It’s nice and flat with no environmentally sensitive areas. It is very close to a 800 acre park with riding trails. According to google maps, there is a gravel access road across the street from the property that connects to the park.

We went to check it out in person, and discovered that the land around the access road was bought by a developer who has plans for a big development with 400 houses. So far there are about a dozen houses in different stages of completion. To access the park, I would now need to hack ~0.5 miles through this neighborhood. According to the developers website, there will be wide sidewalks with a grassy median between them and the road.

I have one steady horse who I wouldn’t worry about, but my green OTTB might be more of a challenge. The original idea was to pony him off my steady horse to get him use to the trails, but the roads add a new dimension I hadn’t thought about. There is no trailer parking at any of the trailheads.

Would this be a dealbreaker for you? Anything else I should think about?

[steelerino]

It honestly depends on your horses and what level of traffic safe they are. I can ride my lease horse all over and he doesn’t bat and eye. I would have died on my personal horse when the first lawn trailer went whizing by. Also are you sure they will let you keep cutting through? I feel like when the first pile of shit is on the sidewalk that might be over.

[kaya842]

You could still pony (assuming the development allows horses at all). I ponied my young tb (and now my spicy WB) off my traffic safe, parade tested TB through the roads by our property as it’s the only place to ride when the ground is wet. Check you state laws WRT horses on the road. In my state, horses have the same road rights as a person on a bicycle. We can’t be kicked off public roads.

[Alterwho]

Will the road be public/maintained by the county or will it be a private road maintained by the subdivision?

[clanter]

Our oldest son never got his drivers license until after age 18, he used his horse to get around town, well it is actually a City. Many times he would hack over to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Around here there are a several hundred miles of interconnected trails but getting to the Stockyards required riding on several streets.

His horse really liked the trips especially through the drive up windows to get some food. (Doughnut shop was his horse’s favorite)

Currently we set in the middle of about fifteen undeveloped land in the middle of several million people. There are two large townhouse developments ongoing within a block or two that are adding 130 +/- houses in this developed area.

We have been double fenced on the public sides with dog runs between where the big barking dogs patrol since day one. In the forty years we have been here, most of the time we have had our horses here with us and never had a problem with uninvited kids/adults bothering the horses, goats and whatever wild thing the kids had at one time or the other.

Having a LARGE German Shepherd Dog who looked after everything was a help. Current dog is a Great Pyrenees who barks at anything that moves or it thinks should be moving.

[endlessclimb]

If the only reason you like the property is the trail access, it’s a deal breaker. That access could get cut off at any time.

We had a similar set up at the last place I boarded at. We maintained the relationship by being friendly, letting the kids pet the safe horses, and being polite. One boarder decided to be Barney Fife and was open carrying a .45 on his hip and being a jerk - thats all it took to be asked to not ride through anymore.

[MorganMaresVT]

@steelerino

Also are you sure they will let you keep cutting through? I feel like when the first pile of shit is on the sidewalk that might be over.

THIS! I wouldn’t worry about my horse handling the ride, but it seems inevitable that in a development that size, you are going to be pretty unpopular, if not outright banned from riding through. If my goal was hacking out from home, unfortunately I’d check this property off my list.

[LCDR]

Cross this off your list. Unless you have a groom who can follow along and scoop up any manure right away, you will likely find new homeowners looking for ways to block your access. I live in an equestrian development and even here folks are intolerant of carriage horses pooping in the streets.

[luvmyhackney]

Don’t assume you can be able to cut through the neighborhood. The first sign of horse poop or complaint over a loose dog and your access will be cut.

[OverandOnward]

The above comments are what you should expect. If there isn’t already a local movement to close off the trail access to horses, the neighbors will create one, soon-ish.

It is the weirdest thing, but the non-horsey gp tends to find horses large and intimidating. And poopy. They like horses in movies, videos and books, but not on pathways they use themselves.

I lived for a short time in a neighborhood built at the edge of civilization, encroaching onto farmland, that celebrated itself as being “in the country” (in spite of standard quarter-acre lots/yards). There were dirt trails traversing the community, accessible to almost all non-motorized transportation, including horses. There were riders from truly rural properties who did ride through on those trails.

It took 5 years from the completion of the neighborhood for the little community to ban the horses from the trails. For reasons ranging from poop to fear that a passing horse would step on someone, or their kid, or their dog. A minority of residents tried to stop this ban, pointing out the connection to ‘the country’ and the supposedly rural location, and that the horses were part of the escape from the city. But the horses were banned anyway.

The neighborhood also eventually purposefully eliminated several species of small wildlife inhabiting their parks and throughways. They didn’t want to really be ‘in the country’, just to think that they were.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Is there any way you can ride around it? Developments frequently have green spaces around them. Maybe even a bike trail.

No trailer parking? Is there a business parking lot that doesn’t have weekend hours?

A quick trailer ride means more time in the park anyway.

I lived just down the street from a beautiful state park, but the equestrian trails were on the other side so I still had to trailer there. No big deal. It was a quick ride.

Also, consider hunting season. You don’t really want to ride there during that time. Is there another place to trailer to?

[horsepoor]

Do you really want to live next door to 400 houses? I know that right there would kill the appeal for me.

[Sister7]

The main road into the development is owned and maintained by the county, and I would have legal access to ride on it. However, they only have permits for “Phase 1” of the development, so the records show the road ending half way through the development even though the full road has been built. There are plans for a “Phase 2”, but currently that land has not been subdivided and is fully owned by the developer, including the rest of the road.

There is also language that states “regional and greenway trails” are owned and maintained by the county but “neighborhood connector trails” are owned and maintained by the HOA. I can’t find any plans or maps that shows where these different types of trails are planned.

[Sister7]

@horsepoor

Do you really want to live next door to 400 houses? I know that right there would kill the appeal for me.

Me, no. But my husband would move us to the middle of the city if I let him, and this is the best compromise I’ve found so far.

[Alterwho]

Unfortunately, if any part of the road or trail is or will be owned by the HOA you have a good chance of not being allowed to ride on them

[Sister7]

@moonlitoaksranch

No trailer parking? Is there a business parking lot that doesn’t have weekend hours?

The only thing nearby is a golf course but I don’t think they would like that very much. My husband actually suggested we could get a euro style horse van until I told him how much those cost, but maybe we could make that work eventually.

[fordtraktor]

I am in a similar situation and since many of our horses are green and I am 1/4 miles from a 4 lane highway, we don’t ride out from the farm. I used to ride on the roads and local park when I had a seasoned trail horse, but now we trailer out to ride.

Honestly I am in a similar situation where husband would rather live smack downtown, so I make it work.

[clanter]

@Sister7

so the records show the road ending half way through the development even though the full road has been built.

There was a street proposed that went along our northern property line, we have the center property of this proposed street. I never fought it but did tell the city that I was considering to donate that specific track to the Audubon Society for an urban bird sanctuary, they could fight with them over the land. Street proposal was dropped.

The city I live in has a continued history of horses in the city, goes back to its foundation. Some residents do ride their horses on the streets hacking to the green spaces and connecting trails . It is expected for the riders to clean up behind their horses Just As Dog Owners are expected to pickup their dog’s poop.

The biggest issue we have is developers or prospect buyers stopping by wanting to buy a piece of the country in the city, usually I can not cut the front yard without some one stopping to ask if we were interested in selling.

[punchy]

If you are banking on this 800-acre park as your riding place, I would contact some of the local horse people who ride there to make sure that the park plans to stay an 800-acre park with horse trails after the 400 houses are built.

[JanM]

I bet the first complaints will start over the smell from manure, every fly near that subdivision will be blamed on you. I’m guessing the half of the access road owned by the HOA and developer will get blocked immediately. You will have to double fence your entire property, with no trespassing signs at the local legally required distance. People will not respect it either. Your insurance agent will not be happy, and may not cover you any longer.